Books » General Home & Garden Books

The phrase "home ec" recalls fusty visions of baking and sewing classes, but this illustrated guide showcases the movement's true foundations: applying scientific methods to domestic work. Compiled from a wide range of vintage sources, Home Economics is chock-full of thrifty tips, time-tested advice, informative charts, and tasty recipes that gently teach the art and science of housekeeping. Inside is a wealth of information on health and hygiene, shopping and cookery, furnishings and decor, cleaning and safety, and so much more.

Old-fashioned, yes. But outdated? Never! This is real home economics that everyone will be proud to know.

"Waste not, want not" with this guide to saving money, taking heart, and enjoying the simple pleasures of life.

Nowadays, many of us "outsource" basic tasks. Food is instant, ready-made, and processed with unhealthy additives. Dry cleaners press shirts, delivery guys bring pizza, gardeners tend flowers, and, yes, tailors sew on those pesky buttons. But life can be much simpler, sweeter, and richer-and a lot more fun, too! As your grandmother might say, now is not the time to be careless with your money, and it actually pays to learn how to do things yourself!

Practical and empowering, How to Sew a Button collects the treasured wisdom of nanas, bubbies, and grandmas from all across the country-as well as modern-day experts-and shares more than one hundred step-by-step essential tips for cooking, cleaning, gardening, and entertaining, including how to

• polish your image by shining your own shoes
• grow your own vegetables (and stash your bounty for the winter)
• sweeten your day by making your own jam
• use baking soda and vinegar to clean your house without toxic chemicals
• feel beautiful by perfecting your posture
• roll your own piecrust and find a slice of heaven
• fold a fitted sheet to crisp perfection
• waltz without stepping on any toes

Complete with helpful illustrations and brimming with nostalgic charm, How to Sew a Button provides calm and comfort in uncertain times. By doing things yourself, with care and attention, you and your loved ones will feel the pleasing rewards of a job well done.

A well-designed porch is like a welcoming committee that invites friends and family to share stories, catch up on neighborhood news, or quietly enjoy the breezes of a sultry summer evening. Porches bridge our public and private worlds, and convey the essence of one's home.

In more than 250 stunning photographs of forty homes, Perfect Porches illustrates how varied these iconic American spaces can be. A wealth of structural appointments are presented, such as the extended eaves of a rain porch along the Gulf Coast, the shimmering copper flooring of a converted Amish cattle barn in Bluegrass country, and Outback-inspired painted thresholds in California's wine region. Unexpected ornaments, including Moroccan pendant lamps, a vintage watering can collection, or a majolica menagerie can transform even the most modest porch into an oasis. This book also reveals a host of practical ways to bring privacy to urban porches, chic accents to old-fashioned verandas, and coziness to modern environments. Home owners share colorful stories about using their porches as communal stages for magical and sometimes mythological events, telling of ghosts encountered, arias sung, and families reunited.

Whether you seek to reawaken a cherished memory of a childhood porch, create an adorned haven of your own, or take an enlightening journey across the nation, this volume is certain to become a treasured companion as well as a source of fresh inspiration.
 
PAULA S. WALLACE is president and cofounder of the Savannah College of Art and Design. Under her leadership, SCAD has received awards for architecture, design, and sustainability from the American Institute of Architects, the Art Deco Societies of America, Fashion Group International, and the National Trust for Hispanic Preservation, and she is the recipient of Elle Décor's Vision Award for her work fostering emerging design talent. Wallace is the coauthor of A House in the South.
 
CHIA CHONG's fine art, portraiture, and lifestyle work has been shown internationally and has appeared in numerous publications, including Cosmopolitan, Elle Décor, and Vogue. Since earning her BFA degree in photography from SCAD, she has traveled worldwide on photography assignments. A native of Penang, Malaysia, she now lives in Savannah, Georgia.
 
ADAM KUEHL's atmospheric landscape work has been exhibited widely and is featured in both private and corporate collections. His fashion and interiors work has appeared in numerous publications, including Metropolitan Home, the New York Times Style Magazine, and Vogue. He is a graduate of SCAD's BFA program in photography and has been recognized in 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers, Volume II.

The host of Style Network's #1 rated show and a renowned life coach and New York Times bestselling author team up to teach people how to permanently de-clutter their homes.

Does this sound familiar?

"I've had that since I was a kid; it holds so many memories."

"How can I give this away? It was my grandmother's."

"But what if I need this eventually? You never know..."

Mark Brunetz, host of Style Network's Clean House, and life coach and bestselling author Carmen Renee Berry share a simple yet breatkthrough understanding of clutter and how to conquer it.

The source of clutter is the stories, beliefs, and emotions attached to objects. If readers learn to change their attachment to clutter they'll be able to clear away their mess. Each chapter includes step­by-step instructions, inspiring success stories, and exercises. The result will be a personally meaningful makeover-a new method to align the person the reader wants to be with the home the reader wants to have.

In the tradition of Erma Bombeck and Peg Bracken, author Lisa Quinn Emmy Award-winning television host and recovering Marthaholic gets real on the follies of housekeeping. Life's Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets is a crash course in Slacker Chic 101 that will have over-extended women everywhere laughing out loud and throwing in the towel the dishtowel, that is. Full of shortcuts and tricks for cleaning, decor, and entertaining, such as: the top 10 things you have to clean if you have company coming in 30 minutes; interior finishes that hide the most dirt; 17 meals made from a deli chicken; and much more, this wickedly funny guide helps women create the life they want without all the hard labor and without compromising style.

A home is a family's single largest purchase, and one of the few that doesn t come with an owner's manual. The Hawaii Home Book fills that void. Equally suited for owners of new homes or for those fixing up an older house or simply looking to maintain their investment, this book covers the nuts and bolts of keeping a home in the Islands, from lighting to landscaping, roofing to pest control. Here are time-proven solutions for preventing and treating unique problems such as salt water corrosion, mold growth, and tropical pests that Hawaii's homeowners face. In addition, author Karen Anderson guides the homeowner through the often overwhelming process of choosing the flooring, roofing and cooling, among other home improvements, that's right for his or her particular residence.

Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams know that the key to comfort is how you set up your home.
 
For two decades, their home furnishings have been synonymous with relaxed style. For them, comfort and beauty work in concert; they are never opposing ideals. Gold and Williams's elegant collection of home furnishings is often the first-and last-place people go when they want pieces that are perfect in scale, comfort, and price.
 
In The Comfortable Home, Gold and Williams share their insights, experience, and practical knowledge so that you can make your home one that is both designed-and designed for living. With a focus on spending money wisely-investing in pieces you will have forever and making strong statements with affordable "pretty little things," Gold and Williams cover all aspects of creating a beautiful, inviting living space, including:
 
·        Working with color
·        Deciding whether to hire a decorator (or not)
·        Furnishing small spaces
·        Finding inspiration in the world around you
·        Creating flow from room to room
·        And much, much more
 
Taking the reader throughout the home-from the entryway into the bedroom, dining room, and all the living spaces-The Comfortable Home is apropos, whether your style is modern, traditional, or something in between. There is plenty of advice on everything, from choosing the perfect bedside table to displaying a beloved collection to deciding where to splurge and where to hold back.
 
Throughout, sumptuous original photography provides inspirational tours of real homes-including Gold and Williams's New York City apartment as well as a revitalized ranch, country cottage, and Federal-style home in the city.
 
Whether you are starting from scratch or looking for a smart way to update a room with a few new pieces of furniture, The Comfortable Home reveals how rooms with different functions can merge into a perfect whole that is inviting and recharging.
 

The long-awaited third volume of Arthur Pirkle's massive study of the Winchester lever action repeating firearms is now available. It provides all the part-by-part details on the most popular collectible and hunting models of the Winchester series found in previous volumes.

By the early 1890s, smokeless power and high strength alloy steels were close to being perfected. Smokeless powder was revolutionizing the firearms industry. The more powerful propellants were making it possible to accelerate small caliber bullets to double and triple the speeds of black powder. This allowed smaller cartridges and in turn more compact rifles. The high strength steels provided stronger barrel capable of resisting the erosive effects of the smokeless powders burning at far high temperatures than those incurred with black powder.

The Model 1894 was John Browning's modernized version of his ground-breaking Model 1886 design. The internal locking lugs were not only stronger but were faster to actuate, making it possible to cock the rifle for the next shot more quickly than with previous models. New cartridges like the .30-30 and the .32-30 were far more powerful than even the big game cartridges developed for the model 1886 but in a package hardly larger and heavier than the M1892. Almost immediately, the Model 1894 rifle and carbine became America's deer rifle a position it still holds today, more than century later.

The Model 1895 was another John Browning design and one developed to handle the powerful new smokeless cartridges like the .30-40 Krag and the .30-06 developed for the U.S. military. The M1895 was a radical departure from previous Winchester lever actions. Its longer receiver was easily capable of handling the long and powerful .30-06 cartridge. The rifle quickly established itself as the premier American big game rifle. Teddy Roosevelt was an early and loyal supporter and hunted throughout the world with the M1895.

Because the Models 1894 and 1895 were developed later and the M1894 remains in production today collector interest in both rifles began later and developed more slowly than with previous Winchester lever actions. Today, that interest is a full peak. Both rifles are plentiful on the collector's market and the prices are far lower than for earlier models. For the price of one M1886 carbine, a collector can assemble a representative collection of M1894s; for the price of two M1866 carbines, a representative collection of M1895s.

As with previous volumes in this series, all parts are described in sequence by serial number range. All markings, dimensions and finishes plus any changes to that part are fully explained and the part illustrated with clear and concise line drawings.

Appendixes contain a history of both rifle's development plus descriptions of the Musket versions of both, serial number charts that have been revised and corrected and new exploded views.